Sparrows are interactive birds that light up when someone whistles in the vicinity.

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Sparrows are interactive birds, attached to the first floor windowpanes of residential houses. They light up in a random mix of colours when someone whistles in the vicinity, adding a ludic dimension to the neighborhood, improving the neighborhood atmosphere through an interactive poetic layer. A Sparrow houses a range of sensors, including sound, light, movement and CO2, as well as a 3G enabled SIM card.

Sparrows are part of a city game ZWERM, which aims to improve neighborhood cohesion and ultimately neighborhood participation, through a network of urban, ludic interventions. Within the game, each Sparrow whistle adds points to the neighborhoods’ score in which the object was located. Players are able to consult a map with the locations and the status of the Sparrows on the ZWERM website.

ZWERM partners: iMinds, Alcatel-Lucent, City of Ghent. With collaboration of MAD-faculty and Fab Lab Genk.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreements n°270971: SmartIP.

Social Swing is a musical playground consisting of four swings with 360 degree movement.

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Swing gently and a sound is heard. A change of direction shifts sounds. Communicate with other swingers. In this way, the Social Swing more than just a playground. Explore a playful musical harmonies and disharmonies through synchronous and asynchronous movements in-group.

Social Swing is a 13-meter by 13-meter structure consisting of four swings with a thrilling 360-degree movement, each equipped by sensors and a speakers. The movement of the swings generates an immersive ambient sound layer that evokes memories. Each swing generates a distinct set of sounds, and moreover playful hidden sound layers can be discovered when players swing in similar directions.

In Void 2 and Void 1, an obstacle was added to the pavement that pedestrians had to avoid. Obstacles were later removed digitally. Void 0 represents a situation of free momovement, a state without any blockages.

Pedestrian Levitation visualises the real flow of people, adding a poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity, in an attempt to inspire people to dream and look beyond their current situations.

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Pedestrian Levitation is an artwork based on the movement of pedestrians on a public space. Some pedestrians walk only on the sidewalk and use the pedestrian crossing for crossing the street, others make free interpretations on the pedestrian infrastructure that urban designers came up with. Pedestrian Levitation visualises the real flow of people, adding a poetic layer that denies physical limitations such as gravity, in an attempt to inspire people to dream and look beyond their current situations.

The bird-eye video Pedestrian Levitation Research of was recorded on the roof of a building and analysed frame by frame with animation software. A pattern of movement of the pedestrians was extracted by reworking this recording frame by frame with video animation software: it is as if pedestrians draw lines though the space. The pattern that was obtained by the Pedestrian Levitation Research video was the basis of the installation in public space.